Dispatches from the 10th Crusade

What’s Wrong with the World
is dedicated to the defense of
what remains of Christendom, the civilization made by the men of
the Cross of Christ. Athwart two hostile Powers we stand: the
Jihad and Liberalism...read more

Will Ken Miller be home for Christmas?

I haven't posted an update here recently about Ken Miller. Here is the tag for my posts about this case.

Those who've followed it will recall that Pastor Ken Miller is the only one so far who has served a lengthy prison sentence in the U.S., though Timo Miller (no relation) languished in a Nicaraguan dungeon (literally) for over a month when the U.S. insisted on extraditing him and the Nicaraguans, for some unknown reason, cooperated. Thus far, Timo Miller has been sentenced to time served, and Philip Zodhiates was convicted but has his case on appeal. Pastor Ken Miller has been in federal prison for "kidnaping" for nearly two years. He is, I say in all seriousness, America's political prisoner.

God's hand has been upon Ken and (I suspect) angels have watched over him, and he seems to have been physically protected in prison. He truly embodies the biblical injunction to be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, in a wicked and perverse generation. He shines as a light in the world. He has even had a ministry to other prisoners.

But he was hoping to go home for Christmas this year. His sentence is officially up in March, and the hope was that he could go to house arrest for the last three months of that sentence. That is now in question, due to budget cuts to the halfway house program through which he was going to be processed. I actually think that is the reason (the bureaucratic budget cut) rather than some sort of active malice against him. (Where we have to worry about active malice against him kicking back in is the lurking civil case launched by the vengeful Janet Jenkins, intended to beggar permanently everyone who helped Lisa Miller and her little girl escape. That seems for some reason not to be progressing, and we can pray that it will not do so and that Ken will be able to put his life back together after getting out of prison.)

Ken and his supporters have a second program in mind through which possibly he could be processed to house arrest and be home by Christmas. Let's at least pray that that will be possible. Apparently it is up to "local and regional case managers and the U.S. probation office."

And don't forget to pray for the safety of Lisa and Isabella (now, I've read, going by the name of Lydia) in hiding in South America. There must be many dangers that beset them. It's not exactly a safe place. The very conditions that made it possible for them to disappear and thus flee the malice of the American Enforcers of Tolerance who would have given Isabella over to Jenkins in full custody also create dangers of their own. Isabella/Lydia must now be in her early teens. We may never hear the rest of the story, but God knows where they are, and we should pray for his protection on them.

Comments (12)

"(the bureaucratic budget cut)"

I doubt this was the decision of some cog in the machinery. Sessions has indicated that he wants harsher sentences. This was almost surely a decision at the political level. Elections have consequences.

I doubt this was the decision of some cog in the machinery. Sessions has indicated that he wants harsher sentences. This was almost surely a decision at the political level.

Perhaps true, but it is entirely possible for it to have been both political and "a cog in the machinery". The allocation of budget funds is driven by political agendas, of course, but below a certain level it ceases to get the attention of the politicos. I remember (this was at least 20 years ago) a friend of mine who was a staffer on Capitol Hill, at budget time, having to field calls from dozens of interest groups who were worried about their funding, and he basically was told to tell them: if their grant was under $25 million, stop calling already, you're covered. I am sure the amount now is much higher.

It is possible that Sessions and the administration made a political decision about some $2 billion program to decrease it's footprint and cut funding to it...and then have bureaucrats determine whether that was going to apply to this $50 million program for half-way houses, or that $50 project for re-education of criminals. It is also possible for bureaucrats, in the manner they prepare their reports, to increase or diminish attention for a specific program - sometimes to protect something they like, sometimes to shine a glaring spotlight for the senator's or Cabinet secretary's political axe.

"Perhaps true, but it is entirely possible for it to have been both political and "a cog in the machinery". The allocation of budget funds is driven by political agendas, of course, but below a certain level it ceases to get the attention of the politicos."

"Will no one rid me of this meddlesome priest?" is how the world works. The budget decision is going to be wholly political. These programs involve contracts with various governmental, for profit, and not for profit entities so a competently run shop will have the political folks watching to protect the interests of contributors. This, of course, is a general problem with neo-liberalism in general, as well as the prison-industrial project affected in this case.

I reviewed the circumstances of the case and it also seems that Lisa Miller is guilty of violating the Virginia laws regarding animal cruelty. I also got the impression that she is of dubious mental stability. Also if Jenkins was engaging in the alleged behavior with the child why didn't she involve CPS? As Miller and Jenkins met at AA, I assume Jenkins has her own issues. Two substance abusers meet and decide to form a family and then things go south - who would have guessed? As I see it this case has nothing to do with SSM and everything to do with two nuts meeting.

Anyway, all that has nothing to do with Pastor Ken who seems to have gotten sucked into this mess through a desire to do good by his lights. He engaged in civil disobedience and accepting a just punishment is part of doing that. Three years seems unjust. He should have been jailed for the duration of the trial.

"Obviously I don't mind being tough on *real* crime."

Nor do I. The problem is that we over-incarcerate in this country and three years for a non-violent, non-financial crime is ridiculous. Holder and Obama sought to correct our over-incarceration problem. As I pointed out, elections have consequences. If an authoritarian racist is elected president and he appoints an authoritarian racist as AG then we might expect more draconian policies re: incarceration (a majority of prisoners are Hispanic and African American after all). In the instant case, Pastor Ken is what might be termed as acceptable collateral damage. Considering him a political prisoner is off-base as he did break a neutral law. All things considered his sentence was wrong.

Also we might want to show some concern for all the folks impacted by what seems like a cruel and short-sighted change in policy. I would guess that a lot of folks who were guilty of similar "crimes" (and less), as well as their families will be disappointed this Christmas.

A family lawyer with whom I've exchanged e-mail on the case says that she is unaware of any other case in the U.S. where those who merely assisted the principal party in a "parental kidnaping" were prosecuted. I find it difficult to believe that no other international "parental kidnaper" has ever had assistance from friends in getting out of the country. Technically it's possible to be prosecuted under kidnapping laws for such assistance, but there is something extraordinary and perhaps unprecedented about the amount of money and effort that has been put by the U.S. federal government into finding everyone who assisted Lisa Miller and prosecuting them. The treatment of Timo Miller was, if anything, the most bizarre of all. His extradition occurred four years after his alleged "violation" of the terms of a cooperation agreement with the U.S. government in 2012. He gave his testimony for Ken's trial by deposition, was allowed to return to Nicaragua, and then failed to appear in person for Ken's trial because his wife was having a baby in Nicaragua. Nobody knows why the government extradited him in 2016 on this technical violation, after he had been in general quite cooperative. Nobody knows why the government of Nicaragua, which has no extradition agreement, cooperated here (rumor has it that they were told falsely that the charge was child pornography manufacture). Nobody knows why it took over a month for Timo to be brought to the U.S., a month during which he was kept in fairly barbaric conditions in Nicaragua, part of the time incommunicado. In the end he was allowed to cop a plea and was sentenced by an unexpectedly sensible judge to time served. Even from a perspective quite different from my own on the underlying moral issues of the initial case, no end of justice was served by that cloak and dagger affair or what Timo and his family went through. Throughout this entire case there has been a pretty strong sense of an attempt to prove some kind of point on the part of the federal prosecution, given their choices concerning where to spend their time, energy, and money.

Al's odd insistence on trying to pin us with the old "elections have consequences" taunt suggests a certain degree of unexpurgated guilt. Flynn, Kushner -- both lifelong Democrats; probably both deserve prison time. Really bad idea to run a Manhattan grifter as President.

But of course, Al knows Trump isn't on us, not here at W4; and in fact we put our money (blogging) where our mouths were in spring of 2016. Yet we're taunted like Trumphumpers. Go pound rocks, man.

For the record, despite being conservatives and (many of us) lifelong GOP voters, none of us voted for the Clown-in-Chief. Speaking for myself, I'll probably never vote again on the national level.

The budget decision is going to be wholly political.

What else should it be? I mean, is there some option for purely non-political human decision-making? Advanced AI? Let Silicon Valley algorithms run the entire world?

The problem is that we over-incarcerate in this country and three years for a non-violent, non-financial crime is ridiculous.

That is a serious problem, but "Pastor Ken is what might be termed as acceptable collateral damage" is basically the reverse of "that black guy just looks mean so let's throw him in prison." Al adds to the problem he claims to lament by endorsing pour encourager les autres.

Pastor Ken who seems to have gotten sucked into this mess through a desire to do good by his lights

I guess the purely secular mindset has no category for "taking a risk to help hurting people." So much the worse for the secular mindset.

What's really, really odd is that the decision to go all Inspector Javert on Ken Miller, Timo Miller, and Philip Zodhiates was made during the Obama admin., and Al, who is always Mr. Cynical when it comes to the politicization of various facially neutral decisions is surprisingly silent when it comes to *those* decisions. Ken Miller wouldn't be in prison now to be affected by "get tough on crime" budget cuts to halfway house programs if he hadn't been prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law and sentenced to 27 months by the U.S. federal government, during a Democrat administration. But *that* was politically neutral, while the budget cuts to the halfway house program are motivated by Jeff Sessions' latent racism, or something? Spare me.

However, on the glass half full principle I will say that at least Al is willing to apply his "more lenient on crime than those mean conservatives" principles to pacifist Mennonite pastors and admit that the sentence was excessive.

Paul, you really need to up your game on reading comprehension. The "collateral damage" POV is from those who would normally be sympathetic to a white Christian pastor esp. when gayness is involved. If a policy that is mainly going to affect "those people" happens to grind up a few other folks - well, too bad. As I disapprove of draconian sentences and counter-productive budget cuts - something I made clear - your construction makes no sense.

That someone is registered as a Democrat is immaterial when that person is casting their lot with a Leninist party dedicated to creating a single party state.
We might also consider the racists, Nazis, and FSB around all this. Given your confusion, your decision not to vote in national elections is a wise one. Wiser still would be to universalize that decision.

Actually that is our only hope of remaining a liberal democracy. Back in the day, a family friend never voted. I asked her why and she replied that she voted for Harding and was so disgusted she vowed to never vote again - and she didn't. Anyone who bought into the "drain the swamp" nonsense and thought a racist grifter with a history of defrauding contractors, molesting women, and filing bankruptcies was going to create jobs, growth, and greatness is a fool and needs to never vote again. If that disillusionment extends to non-Trump voters who would otherwise enable our drift to the dark side, so much the better. Seeing the light would be better but I'll settle.

"...is there some option for purely non-political human decision-making?"

A Fed run by Volcker, perhaps? My point was that cutting programs like this is a bad thing and reflects poorly on our rulers values.

"I guess the purely secular mindset has no category for "taking a risk to help hurting people." So much the worse for the secular mindset."

Again the opposite of what I wrote.

"Yet we're taunted like Trumphumpers. Go pound rocks, man."

Actually I do have to do some road repair so I will. In your case and mine how we voted is immaterial as California and Georgia were not close. Not so much for swing states. Responsibility is dependent on ones theory of politics. Mine holds that where matters are clear for any rational person a vote can constructively be for a person one would never actually cast a ballot for should one not vote or one votes for a candidate who has no chance. A consumerist model holds otherwise. The problem is that with our crazy electoral college and a presidential system that biases towards two parties, any person who, living in a swing state, abhorred Trump but did anything other then voting for Clinton constructively voted for Trump.

Lydia, here's the code:

"(a) Whoever removes a child from the United States, or attempts to do so, or retains a child (who has been in the United States) outside the United States with intent to obstruct the lawful exercise of parental rights shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 3 years, or both.

He could have been sentenced to a fine or a few months, even 27 months is wrong. I doubt this reached the notice of the president and had it, it would have been obstruction for him to interfere. The AG doesn't sign off on something this small. A pardon would have been nice but there are thousands of cases that fit that description and only so many find their way to the president.

Like you I wonder why this case was even prosecuted in the way it was or at all for that matter. After reading about this case, Lisa Miller seems like a head case and supposedly the Vermont courts found the accusations against Jenkins groundless so go figure. Too bad these two had to find each other and decide having a child would be a good idea. Again, Miller seems like a nice guy who got sucked into a mess. I've seen situations where real crazy people who good but naive people into trouble.

Where I live how one treats ones animals goes to character. Abandoning her child's pets to die tells me that something is very wrong with Lisa.

Like you I wonder why this case was even prosecuted in the way it was or at all for that matter.

I don't consider it to be rocket science. The prosecutors involved on the ground level were determined to send a message that Janet Jenkins had full parental rights and that, to show everyone how seriously the federal government takes these rights, the legal fiction whereby the acts of Ken Miller, Timo Miller, and Philip Zodhiates are regarded as assisting in an international kidnapping (with all the horror such a phrase, used in ordinary speech, invokes in the minds of the public) would be played out in every way, shape, and form available to the forces of law.

Frankly, I don't even know if those decision-makers were appointed by Obama or by Bush. The latter is entirely possible. I imagine plenty of ideologues of this stripe get put into place during Republican administrations. Sometimes even moral conservatives get a bizarre notion of the "rule of law" that makes them tougher on those who agree with them on substance in order to prove how impartial they are. Or they could have been holdovers from the Clinton era, for all I know. Or some might have gotten their jobs in different administrations. I don't think there was just one Inspector Javert. That their own legal or moral ideology--specifically, their perception of the importance of "being tough" on conservatives who, by reason of their moral beliefs, refused to recognize Jenkins as having parental rights--was central to the relentlessness and wide sweep of the prosecution seems to me pretty much indubitable.

Since you're the one who is trying to tie things back to the administration elected just a year ago and hence to make what happens to Ken Miller a political matter, it seems to me that it should be *at least* as consonant with your modus operandi to notice the *obvious* political and ideological motivation of the prosecution in the first place, whoever actually hired the ideologues in question.

Responsibility is dependent on ones theory of politics. Mine holds that where matters are clear for any rational person a vote can constructively be for a person one would never actually cast a ballot for should one not vote or one votes for a candidate who has no chance.

I have no idea what that second sentence means. But the key point is that this drive-by "elections have consequences" stuff has got to stop. Leave aside the question of voting; as I pointed out above (though my date was off -- January 2016), we here at this obscure little blog recommended in the strongest terms voting against Trump. Matters were quite clear for us. This bitter accusation of Never Trumpers of crypto-Trumpism is ludicrous. So knock it off.

I'll only add that any "theory of politics" which presents Donald Trump in some kind of line of natural continuity with Republicans generally is manifest absurdity. Yes, favoring for Mary Norwood for Atlanta mayor is just like favoring Trump for president.

On the substance of this post, I think Lydia is right: someone in the line of prosecutorial discretion had it in for these people, precisely because of their defiance of modern sexual chaos. Two women cannot have a child together and that is the root of the madness.

Post a comment

Note: In order to limit duplicate comments, please submit a comment only once. A comment may take a few minutes to appear beneath the article.

Although this site does not actively hold comments for moderation, some comments are automatically held by the blog system. For best results, limit the number of links (including links in your signature line to your own website) to under 3 per comment as all comments with a large number of links will be automatically held. If
your comment is held for any reason, please be patient and an author or administrator will approve it. Do not resubmit the same
comment as subsequent submissions of the same comment will be held as well.

Reverse the order of the digits in 31, then type the answer using letters instead of numbers, all lower case. (required):